Mystery at Lake Lucid
by Suspicious Soup
Summary: Taking a break from her usual contests in Johto, May decides to head out to Lake Lucid for a weekend of relaxation, learning about the gorgeous famed lake and the water Pokemon who live there. What she didn't expect was to find a lake full of toxic nonsense and a cute, chocolate eyed scientist on the job. What happened to Nurse Joy? Brunetteshipping. Possible three-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Mmm," May groaned, stretching. She looked at the flawless sky, unmarred by clouds, before turning to her butterfly partner. "Isn't it a beautiful day today, Beautifly?"

Her long time friends cooed in agreement, soaring around the Johto horizon before taking its place on May's head.

Having won three ribbons from previous contests, May decided to take a break for a few days. Her Pokemon—a team which currently included Beautifly, Furret, Glaceon, Squirtle and Venasaur—were all worn out from rehearsals and constant battling. It was in everyone's best interest to get some sun, relax and recuperate.

And what better place to do that than Lake Lucid?

May had found the beautiful landmark when she was looking through her PokéNav. It was known for its pure, clean waters and its abundance of water Pokémon. The Nurse Joy there was also an expert on Water Pokémon, so it was the perfect place to get any pointers about how to train and take care of her Squirtle. She might even catch herself another water type while she was there.

May put her hand above her eyes, squinting. She could see the Pokémon Center in the distance! But before Lake Lucid could hit her sight, the smell resonating from it knocked her in the nose first.

Beautifly cringed while May rushed to cover her nose.

"What is that _awful_ smell?" May screeched, feeling nauseous, stopping in her tracks to take sight of things. Unfortunately, said smell was coming from the lake.

This lake was not what May was expecting it to be.

Slime coated the parts of the lake that connected with land. Garbage could be found in unending piles all over the lake. The water had taken on an orange tinge, as if the lake itself was nauseous. Swarms of Muk and Grimer could be spotted, probably where fifty percent of the stench was coming from.

"Let's go Beautifly! We've got to find Nurse Joy and figure out what's going on here. Something isn't right."

May and Beautifly hurried to the Pokémon Center.

When they stepped into the Pokémon Center, thankfully, the filtered ventilation system made sure that there was no stench in the building. May and Beautifly looked around, the find absolutely no one in the building. No Nurse Joy, no trainers, and no Pokémon. Something smelled fishy, and it wasn't the lake.

"Time for May's expedition! The case of the missing Nurse Joy and the polluted lake." May busted out her fake finger camera.

"We begin with the observations. Not a single trainer or Pokémon to be found!" May began walking into the direction of where the rooms were. "But what's even more mysterious is the fact that Nurse Joy isn't here as well. Maybe something happened and she had to leave." May stopped walking, putting on a dramatic face of horror. "Or maybe, she was captured by aliens and they decided to pollute the waters in an attempt to take revenge on mankind. Oh the horror!"

Beautifly sweatdropped, realizing that it had totally lost her.

"Now we must take footage of the scene of the crime." May stepped into a dark hallway. "Not a soul to be found in the abandoned Pokemon Center. The aliens didn't leave a trace of evidence that they were here."

Suddenly, a dark figure stepped out of a room and into the hallway that she was in, scaring the daylights out of her.

"BEAUTIFLY! IT'S AN ALIEN! Use Silver Wind!" Beautifly heeded its master's words, getting in front of May before using Silver Wind.

"Umbreon, use protect." An Umbreon leaped out of the room, in front of its own master, glowing. The wind was deflected.

May took a step back from the figure, gulping."Who are you?"

The dark figure proceeded to turn the switch on, revealing a smirking brunette man, not much older than her, in a lab coat. "Definitely not an alien."

"Oh, whoops. Sorry about that." Beautifly shook its head remorsefully and May returned it into her Pokéball.

"The name's Gary."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, we found the two sitting in the cafeteria of the abandoned Pokémon Center. Gary had managed to find a coffee maker and was currently preparing two cups.<p>

"So, lemme get this straight," he said, as he meticulously measured out some sugar. "Your name is May, you're a coordinator and you came here for some rest but then you saw the polluted lake, so you decided to investigate?" He walked over to May with a cup of steaming coffee. She nodded, confirming that the story was true as she accepted the coffee. As Gary sat down, Umbreon made itself comfortable on the seat, next to his thigh.

"You know all about me. But who are you?"

"Ah, I'm Gary Oak. I'm a scientist and I actually came to investigate the polluted waters of Lake Lucid myself. Something is definitely out of the ordinary here."

May nodded again, taking a sip from her mug, before realizing..."Wait, Oak? You wouldn't happen to be Professor Oak's grandson, would you?"

"You caught me." He smiled, petting Umbreon.

"Whoa," May said, excitedly, putting her hands on the table. "I actually really only know about you through Ash."

"You know Ash, too?" he queried, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, we used to travel together back in the Hoenn region."

Gary smiled reminiscently. "Interesting. I'm sure you already know, but he and I used to be rivals waaay back when."

May chuckled,"I've heard the torture stories." Gary joined in on her laughter, chugging down the rest of his coffee. May took this time to survey him. He had on a black shirt and hideous purple pants under his lab coat. He had shaggy chocolate hair and some serious bags under his eyes—he definitely didn't lie about being a scientist. But although he looked insanely sleep deprived, he had this energy about him...

Gary then interrupted her thoughts, "Well, as you can tell, you aren't going to be able to get much R&R here. Olivine City isn't too far away from here and it's near the coast and has some great places to eat. You should head there."

May shook her head fervently. "No way."

Gary grinned, putting his mug down. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Now that I'm here, I have to know what's going on. Nurse Joy's missing, and the lake is absolutely ruined. It's such a shame, too. I heard that this lake was beautiful and that Nurse Joy was an expert on Water Pokémon."

Gary nodded, looking grave. "Actually, a long, long time ago, Lake Lucid _was_ a polluted, toxic mess. Kind of like it is now. The grandmother of the current Nurse Joy was the one who started the beautification of the lake. Then her daughter, Nurse Joy's mother, finished the job with the help of the townspeople, and it became a haven for all kinds of water Pokémon. The injured came here to recover, and the healthy came here to become stronger. The current Nurse Joy had kept her family's legacy going. But some trainers reported that she'd suddenly gone missing, and the lake just became like this in a matter of weeks."

"Weeks? The way this lake looks, you'd think this all accumulated over years."

"That's the thing. To me it sounds like somebody took Nurse Joy out of the way and proceeded to destroy Lake Lucid. But I don't understand how or why."

May suddenly got out of her chair, with her fist in the air. "It sounds like a mystery to me! A suspenseful addition to May's expedition."

Gary gave her a strange, yet amused look, but he decided to let her have her fun. "Actually, the pollution isn't as terrible in Lake Lucid as it was back in Nurse Joy's grandmother's day. I've been running a few tests here and it seems like the pollution can be reversed within a matter of months, if we have enough hands on deck to help. My first priority is just to find Nurse Joy and find who—"

_Crash!_

* * *

><p><em>AN—Look at me! I'm on a roll here. I guess it helps that we've had so many snow days and that I've been watching so many old episodes of Pokémon. This is my first Brunetteshipping fic. Don't get me wrong, I'm a die hard Contestshipper. Buuuut, I feel like Drew and Gary have a lot of parallels to each other. Gary is to Ash as Drew is to May. Except Drew tossed roses at May and Gary probably threw rocks at Ash...Jagged rocks. x.x_

_This looks like it's going to be a three-shot. Maybe a four-shot. But I'm not going into a whole thing about May's journey in Johto, otherwise I'd have to change the pairing to Drew/May._

_So hopefully you guys like the story. And hopefully this is a reminder to stop littering. All your littered nonsense ends up in oceans and lakes and it kills. Don't be a killer. Be a lover. Like Drew._

_Please leave your thoughts and comments! As always, constructive criticism is welcome._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Crash!_

"Stupid machine. Damn Pokémon Center is so unfabulous. I can't take it."

May and Gary exchanged nervous looks. Before May knew it, Gary had pulled them underneath the table so that they were secure under the cover of the tablecloth.

"Gary, what's—" Gary quickly put a finger on May's lips to silence her, inadvertently causing a shiver to go up her spine.

"I think whoever made that noise has something to do with what's going on at the Center. Let's just stay down here for a while and wait until she leaves." At this point, Gary was so close to May that she could feel his breath against her ear, which sent tingly. She inhaled the scent of what smelled like spicy vanilla and felt her heart flutter even more. Tormented by this proximity, the only thing poor May could do was nod and pray that he couldn't see her blush in the dark.

However, the sound of clacking heels into the cafeteria brought her back to earth.

The footsteps suddenly stopped, and May and Gary both stilled their breathing, hoping they wouldn't be found out.

"These cups on the table..." May's eyes widened as she looked at Gary, who put his palm over his temple, berating himself for his forgetfulness.

The footsteps drew closer and May braced herself...

_We're_ _goners._

"THEY'RE NOT EVEN COLOR COORDINATED WITH THE TABLE CLOTH. THIS IS _SO_ OUTRAGEOUS. I BET JACK DID THIS ON PURPOSE, THAT BASTARD." May breathed a silent sign of relief.

The person—who May assumed was a girl by the heels—grabbed the cups and walked out of the cafeteria, murmuring threats about throwing them at somebody's gluteus maximus.

May and Gary exchanged looks, waiting until the clacking noise of the heels faded into the abandoned Pokémon Center. Then, Gary pulled the tablecloth up, allowing May to get up first, before crawling out himself.

May was dusting off her skirt when Gary suddenly interjected,"Someone's a little red in the face."

Immediately, May's face darkened three shades redder.

"Well, that's because we were really close together under the table."

"I didn't even say anything about you being red because of me."

"W-well, I'm not," May sputtered. "It was just really hot under the table."

"_Hot_, huh?"

"Ugh!" May shoved him to her side and proceeded to walk out of the cafeteria. Gary chuckled, his hands snugly in his pockets, as he followed right behind her.

_Augh, what an ego! _May thought to herself, crossing her arms.

_Pretty cute when she gets mad, _the researcher thought, grinning to himself.

"I thought it was suspicious that cups were just lying around."

May had a mini-heart attack when she heard a voice.

And boy, the carpet did not match the drapes.

_This guy reminds me of someone. _

Out stepped a man flipping over his shoulder beautiful, luscious purple hair that yelled,"Because I'm worth it." His bright green suit blinded Gary as his stilettos clacked closer to the duo. He stopped, gazing down at them throw a thicket of eyelashes that any woman would be jealous of.

While May was standing awestruck looking at his butterfly manicure, Gary took the reigns, standing in front of her. "What's it to you if we're in the Center? Or maybe it's you who's behind the destruction of Lake Lucid?"

The man smirked. "You've already caused enough trouble just by being here. Looks like I'll have to personally get rid of the two of you."

May snapped out of her sparkle-distraction-phase, reaching for her Pokéball. "If it's a battle you want then it's a battle you'll get."

"Let's go two on one," the man suggested, pulling out a ruby studded ball.

Gary smirked. "That's a mistake. Umbreon, I choose you!"

"Glaceon, take the stage!"

"Hey, another Eevee evolution," Gary said, admiring Glaceon's sheen coat. "It's beautiful."

The man let out a mocking laugh. "Nothing can compare to my Pokemon. Cacturne, come out my fabulous! Ariados, you too!"

May made a face as she saw the Dark and Bug Pokemon twirl out of their balls and land on the ground. Cacturne had accidentally bumped against the button that turned on the fans in the Center, making it extremely hard to hear.

"Wait, before we begin," May started,"who are you?"

"My name is Sir Farley."

"I'm sorry, was that Harley?" she asked, thinking she had misheard. It had to be Harley.

"No, _what_? That's a terrible name," he said, looking highly offended. "FARLEY."

_Terrible name? You guys are one letter apart. _

Gary scratched his head. "Why are you guys talking about barley?"

"FARLEY!"

"Gnarly?" he asked, slipping in a quick wink at May as she giggled.

The man had completely lost his composure, shaking in anger. He gnawed at the ends of his hair, commanding,"Cacturne, use needle arm on those pesky little bas—"

"—Umbreon, shadow ball!"

"Ariados, sludge bomb!"

"Glaceon, ice beam!"

The room was immediately lit up by a shining bright light as the Pokémon's attacks came together, before the compressed power exploded. May squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact.

...But there wasn't any.

Instead, a shadow had covered all the chaos happening in front of her. She cautiously opened her eyes, only to find Gary standing in front of her, more on the bruised side than she would've liked.

"Gary, are you okay? You didn't have to do that!"

"It's fine," he grinned at her, albeit holding onto his arm which had burn marks on it. "Better one person get hurt than two."

"Idiot," she said, poking at his head. She looked over at the Pokémon. Unfortunately, Glaceon and Umbreon had minor injuries, and both were panting. Farley's Pokemon, however, were safe and sound as Ariados had redirected his string shot at the ceiling at the last minute, sliding up and taking Cacturne with it.

Farley on the other hand was not faring so well. His suit was burn to a crisp as were the ends of his lavish hair. Taking advantage of May and Gary's distraction, he yelled,"Ariados, use x-scissor on Umbreon!"

May, however, didn't even miss a beat. "Glaceon, use protect!"

The Ice Pokemon jumped in front of its Dark counterpart, a barrier forming in front of both of them.

"Thanks, May. Umbreon, use dark pulse on Ariados!"

"Glaceon, combine that with blizzard!"

The wave of snow combined with the harsh, dark waves of power from Umbreon proved too powerful for Ariados. It fainted, landing right next to Farley.

"Ariados!" Farley called out, kneeling next to his Pokemon. He glanced over at Cacturne, who was panting heavily from the snow storm, as Grass types were weak against Ice.

"Ready for some more, BARLEY?" May yelled.

"I think right now it would be a fabulous time for me to back away," Farley muttered to himself. He called back both Cacturne and Ariados, and made a run for it.

"Hey, come back you—"

"—May, just leave it," Gary said. "He'll come back later. He definitely has something to do with what's been going on here."

"I guess you're right. But first things first, we have to treat your arm. Doctor May to the rescue!"

"Oh boy."

* * *

><p>"Brock taught me how to heal burns with Rawst berry paste," May said, as she mashed up a few berries in a mortar and pestle that she had found in the Center. "It's also great for preventing pimples and healing any acne scars."<p>

"If you could just take my shirt off and put it on my back..."

"Shut up, Gary."

Gary had to chuckle. "You're really prepared for travelling on your own, huh?"

May smiled to herself as she continued mashing the berries. "More like Ash, Brock and Drew taught me how to take care of myself. I wouldn't be able to read a map without them."

"Who's Drew?"

"Oh, he's just my rival."

"JUST your rival?"

"Yes, _just_ my rival," May said. A pink hue graced her cheeks, which didn't go unnoticed by Gary.

_Guess he's mine too._

* * *

><p><em>AN- I'm sorry it took so long for me to update. I don't even have an excuse. I blame the plot bunnies and my general lack of desire to do anything aside from reading shoujo manga. . Guilty pleasure._

_Hopefully you guys enjoyed the new chapter! Tried to get a little more romance going. And comedy. ;) I know I ended this with a Drew bomb but I promise Drew won't be making an appearance here. We're just getting some Gary/May action. Not that kind of action._

_ This might end up becoming a four-shot. D: I might as well just call this a story now, haha. _

_Once again, any feedback is appreciated. I actually didn't get a chance to edit this chapter, so if you see any mistakes, just point 'em out. _

_Thank you for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will come out soon! :) _


End file.
